Smuggler shot dead

Statesman News Service

MALDA, Nov 18.- A Bangladeshi smuggler was shot dead in BSF firing at Agra Harischandrapur border out post under Habibpur police station last night, the police said. According to the police, BSF jawans chased a group of Bangladeshi smugglers and fired on them as they were trying to rustle cattle. The BSF recovered some cattle from the spot. Cattle smuggling is common in this zone. In order to stop the crime the BSF is using thermal imager to identify the smugglers’ location at night along the unfenced border. Recently, the deputy inspector general in Malda sector, Mr D Saraswat, accused the Bangladesh Rifles of cattle smuggling along the unfenced Bangladesh border.

Two injured in bomb blast

MALDA, Nov.18. — Two children including a girl were seriously wounded in a bomb blast at Kaliachak today, police said. The children were apparently playing with the crude bomb when it took off. The children were admitted to the district hospital with crucial injuries. One of them has lost a hand and the other may have to undergo a leg amputation, the police said. It was learnt that the spot of occurrence was close to the house of a local CPI leader. Police are investigating who left the bomb at the spot. Tension has been brewing in the locality for some time over a parcel of land. Two groups have been vying to gain control of the piece of land, which may have led to the import of the bomb at that spot, police fear. SNS